Pranab Mukherjee gives Andhra Assembly 7 more days on Telangana Bill

New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee today gave seven more days to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly till 30 January to discuss and debate the draft Telangana bill before returning it to the Centre which promised to table the legislation in the upcoming session of Parliament. The President’s decision came following a request from the Andhra Pradesh government which sought four weeks extension of the 23 January deadline fixed by him while sending the bill to the state Assembly. [caption id=“attachment_1355755” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP[/caption] Official sources said the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill now has to be returned by the state Assembly by 30 January with or without its view. However, experts are of the opinion that whatever the Assembly does, Parliament can go ahead with its legislative process for creation of the new state. Sources said the state government had conveyed that the bill has been debated by the Assembly only for a few days and many of the legislators were yet to speak on it and hence extension of the deadline was required. There are precedents of giving extension of deadline to debate state reorganisation bills. The Madhya Pradesh Assembly was given extended time by the then President to discuss and approve the bill for creation of Chhattisgarh. “We are clear in our mind that the Telangana bill will be brought in this session of Parliament. It is a commitment we have made,” Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde he told reporters here. Parliament session commences on February five and is scheduled to end on 21 February. “Lets see if Andhra Pradesh Assembly passes the resolution by January 30,” he said. PTI